The present invention relates to a camera control system and, more particularly, to a camera control system in which at least one operator remotely operates at least one camera.
A video transmission system has been proposed in which large numbers of cameras and computers are arranged in a building and connected in a network to enable transmission of images or conversations using images and voices between two (or three or more) arbitrary points. For example, this system is expected to be used as a video conference system or a remote monitoring system. For these purposes, cameras whose direction and zooming can be externally controlled are already commercially available. In such a video transmission system each operator can remotely operate a given camera from a given place and/or display an image taken by a given camera on the screen of his or her computer.
In a video transmission system in which remote control of a given camera is possible, as the number of cameras to be operated increases it is more and more necessary to allow each operator to readily know the location of each camera. The present applicant has already proposed a system in which camera symbols indicating individual cameras are superposed on a map image which shows the installation sites of these cameras. The present applicant has also proposed a system in which the direction of each camera is indicated by the direction of a corresponding camera symbol.
The following problem arises when further improvements of a camera control system of this sort are attempted. That is, any user using the system can freely remotely operate cameras connected to other hosts and see images taken by these cameras. However, persons in the sensing enable ranges of the cameras to be remotely operated feel as if they were being monitored, and this may give them a strong unpleasant feeling. That is, under this condition the privacy of each person in the imaging range of a camera is invaded.